wow, what a contradictive world we live in! An illegal alien can establish paternity in VA (which is where I live and am trying to move out of) by signing the birth certificate (whatever happened to the old fashion blood tests to prove paternity??), even though they are not married (my understanding in VA is this, of course, I just went through this part....if a couple is married, then the father signs the birth certificate without any blood work, etc. being done, because it's automatically assumed he is the father, but if your two single people having a child, paternity has to be established before the father signs the birth certificate!), and then can take the child out of the country or state (which I know makes it difficult for him to do much with claiming the child as his without proof, but everyday, people are finding new ways around all of the "paper trails", like false birth certificates, etc), and the illegal alien is told he has 50/50 rights to the child. But yet, I have an ex who has not been exercising his visitation rights (he lives just about 10 minutes away right now and doesn't come to get her!!!), and has had to have his wages garnished for child support becasue he wouldn't willingly pay it on his own, is causing me major heartache lying in court just to try and get custody of our child who he doesn't show any interest in (to me, he's being so difficult because he's hoping to get out of paying child/spousal support, although he's making over $14.00 an hour and I make minimum wage), and I'm not allowed to leave the state and go back to where my family is (and my ex knows where that is), which offers better paying jobs, I have extended family to offer child care, etc, and not to mention that my oldest child is suffering from depression from all of this and is on medication because he misses our home state/family, and I'm being threatened with the possibility of criminal charges against me if I move without proper permission. Our country really is screwed up if we're going to give illegal aliens (he knew he was illegal and what, is hoping he can get citizenship by hooking up with someone in the states and having a child with them??) the same rights, if not more, and actually born citizens of this country have to go through hell! Wow, the US is becoming more and more communist everyday! Does she even know anything about him, where he's from, family names, addresses, has he (or could he still be) been married before, does he have other kids, and if so, where are they? etc, all possible places he could go if he were to run with the child (I never thought I would be going through any of this myself when we first got married!!!), and to make sure he is true to his "fatherly rights", has he applied for citizenship, or is he still hanging to those "old time" rules, where people come here from other countries and marry someone, with the hopes of that getting them a green card? How long has she known him, and is she prepared to possibly face the inevitable, that one day he could be deported? He can't establish paternity through blood tests if he's "hiding" from being deported, and they can't get married nowadays without going through alot of red tape (I had a friend a few years ago who wanted to marry someone from england who was here on a visa, and she had to prove that she had known him for a VERY long time, and they were told that they would have to be married for so many years (it was either 5 or 7 years) before he would be granted his cits!). If I were her, even though she may love him, I would contact an attorney in a descreet manner (because if she is harboring an illegal alien, she can get herself into trouble!), and make sure that her child's and her's rights are protected, and him, well, if he's wanting to a true father to his child, he will apply for his cits and do it all the right way, after all, once he is a citizen, then he can establish paternity of the child and go from there for other rights. After all, if he's "hiding" now, how can you be sure that he would be a continuous support for this child later, after all, if he has to run from being deported, he will be thinking of himself, I doubt her and the child will be on his mind, unless he tries to talk her into going with him!